One aspect relates to a method for producing an alloy, whereby the alloy consists of three metals and the three metals are selected from the group consisting of tantalum, tungsten, and niobium.
In known production methods, bars of pure metal are bundled and melted in a high vacuum, for example, by means of electron beam. It has proven to be disadvantageous in some cases that the element of alloys that has the highest melting point is melted only incompletely in the process. To some extent, larger lumps, for example, of tungsten, drop into the melt bath during the melting process without mixing with the other alloy components. Referred to as inclusions or mono-elemental regions, said non-melted lumps of one of the alloy metals lead to failure of the material at a later time, when the alloy is drawn into a wire. This can lead to fissures or cavities arising at said inclusions. Moreover, said inclusions render the processing more difficult. For example, the inclusions reduce the fatigue resistance of the component and lead to local corrosion of a wire made of the alloy.
For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.